Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 392 Compress the space and don’t let the Tartar cavalry go!
[Book friends can turn to the previous 2 chapters, there is an Easter egg chapter. The author's hand-drawn battle diagram has a rough intuitive beauty when you savor it carefully.]

Wang Shiren, the general of Xuzhou Town, who was crossing the river, looked at the weapons, flags, drums and trumpets all over the ground and the billowing dust rising behind the people in the west.

He cursed:
"Damn it, you guys are smart."

He then ordered to abandon some of the baggage and run north!

Loyalty is the key.

In this grand escape rally, those who run north still have "loyalty" in their hearts, while those who run west have basically lost their conscience.

There were also some who did not run away - the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp.

Despite this disadvantage, they actually launched a fierce attack on the artillery positions in front of the Wu army, hoping to achieve a stunning reversal.

The 1st Corps' line infantry naturally would not give them this opportunity.

They marched forward to the sound of drums and bugles, passed the artillery positions and then formed up again.

"Aim, ready, fire~"

Several rounds of continuous volleys shattered the delusions of the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp.

……

After leaving behind thousands of corpses, the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp also turned around and fled.

I have held out until now before escaping, which is already very much in return for the little salary the court has given me.

The 1st Corps did not chase after the enemy, but instead stood still and shot at the enemy's back, waiting for further orders from Commander-in-Chief Lin!
As the old foundation of the Wu army and the direct legion led by Lin Huaisheng himself, the 1st Legion has good discipline~
quickly,

A knight holding a small red flag arrived:

"Commander-in-Chief Lin has ordered the 1st Corps to split into two routes. Five battalions will cross the river to pursue the Qing army's fleeing soldiers. The rest will assist the 2nd Corps in defeating the Huaixi New Army."

Half an hour later,

The 1st Corps completed its adjustments, with one part chasing the Qing army's defeated troops, and the other part starting to make a detour, preparing to block the escape route of the Huaixi New Army.

……

Lin Huaisheng set his sights on Hailancha's thousands of cavalry.

This time,
He had no intention of letting go of these treasures of the Qing court.

"Pass the order down. Use the 1st Expeditionary Army as the vanguard and gradually reduce the space. We must encircle and annihilate the Qing cavalry today."

The Qing cavalry running wildly on the right wing of the battlefield was also confused at this time.

The main force of our infantry had been defeated, leaving only the honest Huaixi New Army still fighting hard.

The artillery team defending the camp could only stare blankly, unable to support the friendly forces or to retreat.

The same was true of Wu Jun's artillery positions at this time.

The gunners half-crouched around the cannon with torches in hand, ready to bombard any enemy who dared to attack them at any time.

The artillery could not move its position.

If you move, all your flaws will be exposed.

The Qing army only needed a cavalry of more than a thousand people to succeed.

……

At this time, the wind was getting stronger.

There are not many typhoons that can affect Jiangbei. If there is a weather forecast, this one will at least be a super typhoon.

Hailancha slowed down his horse and looked for opportunities on the outskirts of the battlefield.

Behind him were more than 9000 cavalry, including the Solon, Jilin Eight Banners, and Shaanxi-Gansu cavalry.

"General, what should we do?"

"Charge, kill the general and seize the flag."

It was really a two-phase rush.

Lin Huaisheng led the 1st Expeditionary Army to form 10 square formations and advance in two directions, with spears like a forest and armor shining.

Hailancha drove the Shaanxi-Gansu cavalry to act as the first wave of charging force.

"Hamamu, the time has come for you to die in the service of the court."

Hailancha spoke sternly to Hamamu, the general of Liangzhou Town.

Hamam gritted his teeth and said:

"Don't worry, General. I have three sons, all of whom are studying in the Imperial Academy."

……

The 4000 Shaanxi-Gansu cavalry were in chaos for a while.

Finally the attack formation was arranged.

The most elite veterans were in the first row, holding lances and controlling the speed and rhythm of the charge.

The archer followed closely behind, ready to shoot.

Next is the cavalry with one-handed swords~
The Shaanxi-Gansu cavalry never used firearms in battles, as they considered them useless and troublesome.

Hamamu glanced at the billowing smoke and dust raised by the fleeing friendly troops in the west, as well as the scattered Wu troops following in pursuit.

Suddenly, I felt sad.

Swish, he actually cut off his braid and threw it in front of Hailancha's horse.

"Brothers from Shaanxi and Gansu, wealth and honor are sought through risk, so give it a try."

"kill!"

Shout,

He held the lance, kicked the horse hard and rushed to the front, with his personal guards holding large flags following closely behind him.

Thousands of riders galloped together, the sound of their hooves was like thunder, shaking the ground.

……

So shocking,

The attention of the entire battlefield was attracted.

The phalanx of the 1st Expeditionary Army began to shrink. The phalanx was no longer tight and the spears were no longer aligned.

Zhang Laosan's phalanx happened to be in the cavalry's charge path and was the first to bear the brunt of the attack.

He lifted his mask.

A heart-wrenching roar:
"Don't move. If you run, you will die. Line up where you are and keep close together."

With great effort, he managed to gather his men into a hedgehog formation with their spears pointing outward.

……

Zhang Laosan caught a glimpse of the 3rd Battalion's square formation collapsing.

Half of the people were retreating, and the remaining half were standing there at a loss, unable to move forward or backward.

The gunfire from the supervision team arrived as expected.

The Guards shot the deserters without hesitation.

Armor's defensive performance against muskets was very limited, and the deserters fell like wheat being cut.

One person fell down after each round of gunfire.

Until all the more than 200 deserters were killed.

Lin Huaisheng watched the scene quietly, his face remaining calm.

He transferred Yang Yuchun's armored battalion of the 2nd Corps to his own command and it was now with the guards.

Unlike others,

All members of this armored battalion sat on the ground, putting their helmets and weapons aside.

They need to maintain enough physical strength before fighting and not waste any.

Many people took out dried meat from their armor and stuffed it into their mouths, chewing silently.

Meat can provide people with the greatest energy.

Fat increases a soldier's chances of survival on the battlefield.

Therefore,
All the members of the Armored Soldiers Battalion are tough, and there are all kinds of fat and strong men.

……

The Shaanxi-Gansu cavalry roared past the flank of Zhang Laosan's 1st Battalion.

It is impossible for cavalry to charge head-on into a phalanx of spears. There are no fools like that in reality.

The knights threw short axes, short spears, bone sticks and other weapons into the square formation.

The desperadoes in the square formation were not to be outdone and threw out more than a dozen spears, hurting each other.

In order to maintain their speed, cavalrymen had to keep charging forward.

The second wave of archers stood on their stirrups, turned around and shot arrows.

The arrows whizzed against the armor, making a clanging sound.

From time to time, some unlucky guys would be hit by arrows in the gaps in their armor or in the face, and would fall to the ground screaming.

The soldiers of the 1st Expeditionary Army did not have masks, and their equipment was not comparable to that of Yang Yuchun's Armored Battalion.

……

Looking from the sky,
The phalanx of the 1st Expeditionary Army was like a reef, and the Qing cavalry was like the waves.

The waves hit the rocks, and their power is reduced layer by layer.

The reef is covered with scars, but it is damaged but not collapsed.

Then the waves encountered the breakwater formed by the Guards.

"Ready, aim, fire~"

Amid the bursts of gunfire, the Shaanxi-Gansu cavalry were immediately thrown to the ground.

"Release the arrows, release the arrows."

Hamam was shot twice, and even though he was well armored, he still couldn't hold on.

His vision went dark.

He wanted to charge into the red square in front of him, but he couldn't hold on until that moment. He fainted and fell off his horse, and was trampled into nutrients by the earth.

Most of the personal soldiers who were killed or injured looked back at the burial place of their master with tears in their eyes, helpless.

……

"Ready, fire." The soldiers in the last row pulled the trigger steadily amid the officer's roar.

The cavalry rushed to a distance of 3 meters, and it seemed as if time had stopped for a second.

He was in a mess and fell off his horse.

The corpses caused great trouble to the cavalry behind.

A stout and short knight from Xining Town, who used to be a shepherd in the hinterland, looked at the obstacle of dead bodies of men and horses ahead and suddenly pulled the reins.

The warhorse actually jumped up on the spot, and in a beautiful arc, it crossed the ground obstacle. The moment it landed, he threw the lance in his hand fiercely.

The lance pinned a Wu soldier to the ground.

The warhorse knocked over two Wu soldiers who were blocking the road, breaking their bones and tendons.

Both sides fell to the ground together~
The short knight was dazed from the fall, but driven by instinct, he rolled over on the spot to avoid the two bayonets.

As soon as he stood firm on his feet, he drew out the dagger from his boots and confronted the surrounding Wu army.

bang~
A captain drew the flintlock pistol from his waist and casually shot it in front of his chest, causing blood to splash.

The captain muttered as he loaded the gun:
"Who are you trying to scare with a knife in your hand?"

……

The waves hit, one after another.

The intervals are not long, and each wave is higher than the other.

The Sauron soldiers finally launched a charge!

Hailancha shouted, and 1900 cavalry immediately set off, with a completely different momentum from the Shaanxi-Gansu cavalry.
Silent, calm, cruel.

Soran's unique skill is not fighting with swords and guns, but archery.

His horse control skills are also amazing and his distance control is very accurate.

They accurately killed the phalanx from 5 meters away.

Aim for the face, every shot is accurate.

"Battalion officer, I can't take it anymore."

The veterans of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Expeditionary Army spoke in a horrified tone.

Too many of his companions had fallen around him, all of them hit in the face by the Qing army's arrows.

"You can't run. You will die if you run. Maintain the formation." Zhang Laosan's voice trembled.

……

"Third brother, I can't take it anymore. Are you going to just stand there and get killed one by one?" Boss Zhang was also anxious.

This sentence reminded Zhang Laosan.

A man can die, but he cannot die in such a cowardly way.

He yelled:
"Go, go at them."

After shouting, he took the lead and rushed forward with a spear in hand.

Ding, another armor-piercing arrow hit his shoulder armor and slipped off.

The soldiers broke up their formation and went in groups of three or five with their spears raised to stab the cavalrymen who were close at hand.

The Sauron cavalry was caught off guard.
A lot of them were stabbed.

Then there is no more then.

The Sauron soldiers, who had distanced themselves, began to defeat them one by one, which was their best tactic.

The 1st Expeditionary Army was extremely short of long-range weapons.

The Sauron soldiers are all war machines, good at taking advantage of the weaknesses of their prey.

1 quarters of an hour later,
The seven phalanxes of the 1st Expeditionary Army collapsed, leaving corpses all over the ground.

……

Lin Huaisheng saw it all:

"Every hundred members of the Guards Corps will form a hollow square formation, 6 on the left and 6 on the right. Keep your distance and support the friendly forces."

"Yes."

This arrangement was soon noticed by Hailancha.

He unexpectedly ordered:

"Ningguta Deputy Governor, Sarha."

"The end will be here."

"You lead 2000 Jilin cavalry to provide roundabout support to the new Huaixi army."

"what?"

"Didn't you understand? Make a big detour, defeat the Wu bandit's 2nd Legion, and then lead the Huaixi New Army to attack the bandit chief's center from behind. As long as you can do it within half an hour, we can win."

"Whoo."

"If you can't win, just kill yourself."

Sarha returned silently, drew his sword and loudly issued specific military orders to his six assistant commanders and 6 lieutenants.

……

The Jilin cavalry suddenly fled far away.

Lin Huai's pupils shrank as he sensed some danger.

He turned to a soldier and said:
"You, go tell Miao Youlin and Zheng Hean. If the Huaixi New Army cannot be defeated within two quarters of an hour, I will personally go to His Majesty and surrender them to the ground, and make them soldiers."

"If the Huaixi New Army attacks the Central Army, I will first enforce military law."

"Yes."

Lin Huaisheng was quite angry.

What happened to the 2nd Corps, which is usually so arrogant and always ready to charge with bayonets? It is still fighting a fierce battle with the people from Huaixi.

By this time, the 21st Army Corps of the Northern Green Camp, which was chasing the Qing Army's 1st Regiment, had already crossed the bridge.

Tens of thousands of Qing army infantry were running in a panic along the official road towards Yangzhou, and five battalions of Wu’s army were chasing them relentlessly from behind.

……

A quarter and a half later,

The hollow square formations of the Guards Corps on both wings finally got into position and began shooting from a long distance.

Feeling the pressure, the Solon cavalry stopped chasing the defeated soldiers of the 1st Expeditionary Army and retreated slightly to avoid the effective range of the flintlock rifles.

Hailancha did not order his men to attack those strange musket formations.

He had suffered a loss once and knew that this thing was not easy to deal with.

At least so far,

He had not yet thought of an effective way to break the formation, except for cannons.

……

Yes, cannon!

There were thousands of cannons of various calibers stationed in the camp.

"You, go back and pass the message, have Li Jiulin bring his camera and cannon to support us."

"Whoo."

If artillery is to maneuver over long distances, absolute safety is required.

Because when it is moved, the cannon is almost like scrap metal.

With the gunners' weak combat capability, any infantry or cavalry force of a few hundred men could succeed.

It's easy to destroy a cannon.

Use an iron nail to drive into the firing port and light the gunpowder. If that doesn't work, smash the wheels of the artillery cart and drive the mules and horses away.
Any of them,
Both can make the cannon lose its combat effectiveness.

……

There was an anxious man in Wu Jun's artillery position. He stood on the gun carriage and held a telescope to observe the battle situation ahead.

He is Li Ergou!

It brought most of the mixed battalion's troops except the cavalry.

His gunners received 28 2-pound rapid-fire guns from the Ordnance Department at the dock.

The biggest difference between this cannon and the previous standard artillery of the Wu army is that it is lightweight!
The gun carriage, including the gun barrel, weighs only 200 pounds.

Two pack horses can pull this cannon around the field, firing shotgun shells to kill enemy units.

but,

Without Lin Huaisheng's order, he didn't dare to move.

He could only stare blankly and ordered his subordinates to make all preparations. Once the military order came, they immediately set off.
……

The reason why the entire Wu army's artillery sequence did not dare to move was because they were afraid of the Qing army's cavalry.

A cavalry unit might not be able to defeat a well-organized infantry phalanx, but it is easy to cripple a group of slowly maneuvering artillery battalions that are full of loopholes.

Lin Huaisheng took out a handful of peanuts from his pocket, put them in his mouth and chewed them silently.

He was a little hungry.

The officers were gathering the remnants of the 1st Expeditionary Army and reorganizing them into square formations.

Zhang Laosan was both sad and relieved.

The sad thing is that only a hundred of his soldiers were left alive.

Fortunately, his two elder brothers were still alive and well. The eldest brother was hit by an arrow in the arm, but it was a minor injury and not a big problem.

at this time,

The two Zhang brothers took out the dried meat strips hidden in their armor and bit them hard.

The meat strips soaked in sweat tasted bad, but the stomach still cheered and accepted the high-energy food.

Fighting from morning till afternoon,
The soldiers' energy had long been exhausted.

Actually,
Neither side realized that they were about to face a serious problem - hunger!

……

(End of this chapter)